Separatist shutdown affects life in Kashmir

Srinagar, April 12: A shutdown called by the separatists affected normal life across the Kashmir Valley on Tuesday.

Shops, public transport, other business establishments and educational institutions remained closed in summer capital Srinagar and other towns and cities in the valley.

Transport between Srinagar and other districts of the valley remained suspended.

Some means of private transport and three-wheelers were operating in Srinagar.

Attendance in government offices, banks and post offices was thin due to non-availability of public transport in the city.

The shutdown has been called by separatist leaders Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Muhammad Yasin Malik and others in protest against alleged harassment of Kashmiri students in educational and professional institutions outside the valley.

Kashmir Bar Association has supported the shutdown call and chosen to stay away from courts on Tuesday.

Authorities have placed Geelani and Mirwaiz under house arrest in Srinagar while Malik was taken into preventive custody and lodged in a local police station two days ahead of Tuesday's shutdown call.

Police and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troopers in riot gear have been stationed at vulnerable areas here and other district headquarters in the valley.

IANS